Paramilitary Members Face Justice in Murders of Two Colombian Union Leaders

by James Parks, Aug 25, 2009

Victor Orcasita was murdered by Colombian paramilitaries in 2001.

Eight long years after Colombian trade union leaders Valmore Locarno Rodriguez and Victor Hugo Orcasita Amaya were assassinated, those directly responsible for these heinous crimes are being punished.

Just yesterday, Alcides Maneul Mattos Tavares, alias “el Samario,” confessed to having participated as one of the gunmen. The other assassin, Jairo Charris Jesus, was sentenced Aug. 7 to 30 years in prison for his role in the murders.  Both men were members of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), the umbrella paramilitary organization.

Two other paramilitary leaders, Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, alias “Jorge 40,” and Oscar Jose Ospina Pacheco, alias “Tolemaida,” also face trial for their involvement in these crimes.  Tovar’s case is complicated, however, by the fact that he was extradited to the United States on drug-trafficking charges earlier this year.

Locarno and Orcasita, president and vice president, respectively, of Sintramienergica, the mine and energy workers union, were killed in March 2001. Both worked for the U.S.-based mining multinational, Drummond.

As they were leaving the mine one day after work, the bus in which they were traveling was intercepted by an armed group of the AUC in the village of Casa de Zinc. Locarno was murdered on the spot, while Orcasita was taken by the paramilitaries in a van. He was found dead in a rural area the following day. Gustavo Soler Mora, who succeeded Locarno in the union leadership, was murdered seven months later.

In his trial, Charris explained that the murders had been planned along with Colombian and American company executives. Drummond has denied all links to paramilitary organizations and all allegations of complicity in the killings.  A U.S. federal district court and appeals court found Drummond not guilty of playing a part in the murders.

In May, an attorney for the families of Locarno and Orcasita filed a U. S. lawsuit against Drummond, accusing the company of paying paramilitaries to murder union and community leaders, as well as paying paramilitaries to protect the transport of coal by rail from Drummond’s mines to the port of Cesar Ciénaga.

Colombia is the most dangerous country for trade unionists, according to the Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). In 2008, 49 union members were killed in Colombia, and more than 20 unionists have been murdered so far this year.

More than 2,700 unionists have been murdered in Colombia since 1986.  At the current pace of investigations and trials, it would take 37 years to prosecute the backlog of cases. And the caseload is growing—the rate of killings, which had fallen for a few years, jumped last year by 25 percent, says José Luciano Sanin, director of Escuela Nacional Sindical (National Union School), a leading Colombian think tank.

The AFL-CIO and a broad coalition of groups have opposed congressional consideration of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement until workers can fully exercise internationally recognized labor rights without fear, the country makes deep and sustained progress on ending impunity and labor law reforms bring the country’s laws into compliance with International Labor Organization (ILO) standards.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council recognized the courage of Colombian workers by nominating Colombia workers’ rights activist Yessika Hoyos for the 2008 George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award. She will receive the award at the AFL-CIO’s 26th Constitutional Convention next month.

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